Rebirth
by Eternal-Insomnia
Summary: I thought it was only a game, a harmless product for entertainment. Now it's more than a game. It's my life, my family, my friends. My future. Our future.
1. Chapter 1

Let it be known, that this is the rewrite of my very first story. This revision project is dedicated to my editor/partner/good friend Neassa.

* * *

Everything blacked out for a moment. My eyes scanned every direction they could but all I saw was black. I looked down at my hands. I could still see myself but I just stood there somehow in a void of nothing. The beads of sweat collecting atop of my brow were running down my face and neck. The darkness was getting…hot? I couldn't understand it myself but it was happening. My body grew tense under waiting for anything to happen in the darkness.

'C'mon' I thought. 'Let me be able to see…'

Small waves of grey started to form all around the black. They were all vibrating slowly but oddly enough they seemed to act as erasers, clearing the black and revealing the landscape that surrounded me.

Finally the dark cleared away and blue was its substitute. I looked down at my feet to see a blue stone pillar beneath me. It was raised only a couple of feet from the rocky floor which was also colored blue. By the looks of it, I was in a cave. A strange wind rolled into the cave with a calming coolness that hit my hot face. White and blue crystals were jutting out from the cave floor in an interestingly ornate design. They glowed brightly while they seemed to create a large round circle around me.

I heard the noise of a soft hum and I whipped around in its direction. There was a black and purple oval-shaped vortex floating about a couple of yards away. Something was coming from there.

A black mist began to slowly spray from the smoke. Next thing I knew I could make out little dark spots against the purple center. The spots turned into fingers. After the black fingers came a spiked black hand that curled up into a fist. I had to ready myself. I stretched both of my hands out just as I had grown accustomed to doing but this time there was no grand flash of light, only glimmers.

'Damn, damn, not now! I know what I did but please not now!'

Following the fist was a wrist, and then an arm. The pace at which it was exiting was quicker. Before I could think of anything else, a shoulder was jutting out.

My heartbeat began to race in desperation. With each attempt to call my weapons I only received more glimmers of light but they were growing into small flashes, almost like a bright light turning on and then abruptly going out.

An upper torso began to emerge while the black hand was beginning to flash sparks of its own.

"C'mon, c'mon!" I began to shout at my hands. The flashes were getting bigger but they were fading in and out at the same rate of a slow pulse. I looked ahead to see a sinister black ball of dark energy growing in size in the black hand. In a matter of seconds its size went from that of a basketball to the girth of a bear.

'Crap, if I can't get any kind of defensive help I can only hope to dodge'

It was with that thought however that the cave seemed to eavesdrop into my mind. There was a hefty rumbling as the cave and the crystals inside all began to shake. The pillar I was standing on suddenly started to sink down until it seemed to melt into the ground.

A sharp crash resonated through the cave followed by several others. I looked around to see crystals flying from their stuck roots and surrounding me. The points planted themselves neatly to my side and behind me. They began to stack and before I knew it, there was a makeshift crystal corridor enclosed around me. I was at one end with the huge threatening ball of hurt at the other. My jaw dropped in disbelief at the added disadvantage tossed at me.

"I hate caves" I croaked with a dry throat. My attention snapped back to my desperation as I felt the pulses in my hands getting larger. I felt a floating piece of hope.

'Just a little bit more…'

There was a deafening boom. I looked straight ahead to see the ball of darkness whirling straight towards me, fiercely closing the distance and sinking my formerly rising hope.

"Think fast!" I shouted to myself. A combined split-second choice of instinct and reflex threw my hands forward in an attempt to at least keep the ball away from my face. I could only close my eyes and look away. My face was going to be the least of my worries in a moment…

Time seemed to slow to a frame by frame rate in my mind.

I felt the heat of the ball wash over my hands inches away as it was about to collide. I gritted my teeth and tensed my arms to try anything to deflect the ball. There was a strong pulse that shot from my shoulder and ran straight to my hands. The second I attempted to open my eyes, a white hot flash blinded me completely and I lost all feeling in my body.

'No…too late…not enough…' I thought in broken pieces. My mind seemed to fly away in a mental vacuum.

Other than what seemed to be my impending (and unfair) death, I couldn't help but think where was that moment? That moment people say comes right before you're supposed to die, how your whole life is supposed to flash before your eyes. Where was my standard final replay of my existence?

Oddly I couldn't think about my whole life. That was the life I had left behind, a life gone and done with. I could only think back to the last day of normalcy I had before everything went wrong…

***

There was a little bit of warmth falling upon my closed eyes. There were two shafts of light falling through the two windows at the head of the bed. The sunrise was gently attempting to move me awake. It worked, I mean I was awake but I insisted on keeping my eyes closed, wanting more sleep.

'Just five more minutes' I spoke in my head. 'Or ten. Or fifteen. Whatever, just let me take my time…'

I didn't want to leave my cocoon of warmth and comfort but a gut feeling reminded me of what was coming any moment now. My own self editing product of a heavy rim shot would be coming right about…

**BOOM**

'Damn it all…'

Next thing I knew, the chorus riff from "Some Skunk Funk" by the Brecker Brothers was blasting next to my head, saxophones, drums, keys and funk guitar in all its glory. Needless to say this was my signal to promptly jolt up, grab my cell phone and cancel the jazz/funk madness before I woke up the rest of my family.

I sat up in my bed, gripping the now silenced cellular device in my left hand while my right held my head up. Not the most elegant way to start up the morning but it had to be done. I couldn't wake up on time any other way. I opened my mouth wide and let my arms stretch up slowly before shaking my head to snap myself back to the real world.

"At least it's Friday" I yawned to myself. Swinging my legs over the side of the bed to stand up, I decided to more or less graciously take my time walking to the bathroom. It really felt more of a post-modern zombie shuffle but no judge of morning ceremonies would look down on that.

Walking inside, I turned on the light and glanced at the mirror to take a look at what exactly dragged its self into the light. It was male and looked roughly 5'6 in height with light tan skin. Its figure was overall thin. He wasn't the most muscular or chiseled of his race but he had a decent amount of strength to haul music equipment along with the lungs and legs of a sub-par cross-country runner to be considered a fit seventeen year old. On its shoulders was a head with dark brown eyes and the characteristic flat nose that came with being Filipino, though his was less flat than most.

'What is on my head…?'

His hair at the moment was a classic mess of a huge bed-head, one side going up while the other side attempted to go someplace else but apparently got lost and took many wrong turns. The whole specimen was dressed in long blue pajama pants, a black t-shirt and socks.

"Well" I spoke to myself. "Time to clean up"

After a good and lengthy hot shower I looked back to the mirror to see if the specimen's mane was more controlled now. It resumed its normal, uncharacteristically straight, yet up, yet thick, yet puffed out in a neat faux-afro/mullet like fashion. Upon realizing it was being observed it gave its mane a quick shake to loosen it up.

Leaving the specimen to resume its daily life, I headed back to my room to get dressed. A pair of dark blue straight-leg jeans went on first with a black leather belt around my waist before I opened the shelves of a dresser to take a shirt.

'What shirt says "I'm happy today's Friday?'

I pulled out a solid black v-neck graphic t-shirt, a shirt that I had come to enjoy wearing for two reasons. One was the design: a grey arm rising vertically with its hand throwing up the universal sign of rocking out with alternating yellow-red-yellow wording saying "Rock-Paper-Scissors". That was sweet. Second was the store in which I bought it from. I didn't know Forever 21 even had a men's section but I concluded my lack of knowledge was just ignorance. The fact that they always kept that section way, WAY in the back of the store behind the entire woman's clothing front could've been a factor too. I laughed at the memory of how I came to own this piece of clothing.

'Her suggestion led to a pretty fun day...'

I cleared my head of memories and the shirt was simply put on. The next daily motion was to grab my various pocket items and other various items/accessories that were on top of the dresser: a wallet, pen, house keys and guitar picks, or small, thin, wedge-ish shaped pieces of plastic guitar players commonly use for those who didn't know.

My right hand reached out to put on my high school class ring. It was a nice piece. Sterling silver body with an aquamarine gemstone along with my name engraved around the inner band.

"Francis-Raphael Garcia Muyalde" I read to myself. "Go parents for devising complicated and fancy sounding names"

I chuckled at that before I realized my left hand was reaching out towards a small blue gift box. I stopped my hand. It ended up hovering over the simple box.

'No, just bring your hand back and walk away'

I gave a sigh as I closed my eyes. My mouth had gone into a small frown. Pulling my hand back to myself I turned around, grabbed my phone off my bed and proceeded to head downstairs to put on my shoes.

I put on my selected pair of black sneakers (one of the few visibly existing pair of Ice Creams I once again happily told myself), treated myself to a cheese/sugar topped oriental pastry with milk for breakfast, grabbed my black/grey book-bag and headed outside to have my loving mother take me to school.

"HURRY UP!" she yelled from the wheel. "YOU'RE GONNA BE LATE AGAIN YOU MOVE SO SLOW COME ON HURRY UP!"

I heaved another heavy sigh as I walked to take my place in shotgun.

_Time is near..._

I turned my head in the direction of the noise. There was no human being there. And no sign of anybody hiding or running away. There was only a squirrel on my neighbor's lawn. I hated squirrels. They looked like rats with furry tails that had a tendency to stare at you for extended periods. I shuddered at it, forgetting about the voice that I took as my wild imagination toying with me. I took my seat and my mom took off as she kept up her morning tirade.

"Yes" I nodded my head to her as she went through her usual morning interrogation. "No I'll be fine I have time to make homeroom. Yes I have all my stuff. No I believe I'm old enough to not have you coddle me. I'm a senior mom, not a junior. Yes. Yes. No. I love you too mom"

I shot her my usual cheesy big smile I gave her in the mornings. She responded by tussling my hair and smiling back. I hopped out of the car and stood in front of my semi-large high school. I realized it had quickly gotten warmer as the sun shone brightly on this spring Friday.

"Alright, let's get going I suppose"

So the day commenced with homeroom. Twenty minutes of "Good morning", random conversations with friends, people copying/doing homework due the period after, the pledge of allegiance and after that, morning announcements over the intercom.

European History was up for me afterwards. Revolutions, innovations, lots of counts and dukes and peasant uprisings on the current agenda.

A study hall came next, or as I like to call it, second breakfast/nap time. One of my friends has an iPhone app titled "Drunk Texts from Last Night" which always provides lots of laughs to brighten up sluggish mornings.

Psychology followed. Mental functions and theories abound for a full period.

Jazz band afterwards gave me a moment to finally plug in my guitar and play my feelings away. And head banging to metal with my band director helps get the blood flow going.

Gym was next. Oh gym volleyball leagues, how I absolutely have so much fun with you.

Computer programming: Can't say much about that class. Making a calculator is more difficult than I ever imagined.

Lunch. My table is like a live version of Manswers combined with a sports talk show. Except minus the steady stream of supermodels but I digress.

Calculus, now there's nothing like fresh derivatives and the occasional episode of 'Numbers' right after lunch.

English was the final frontier for me this year. I really disliked how everything and I mean everything seemed to slow down in this class. I looked outside the window and I could've sworn I saw a kid running in slow motion. My friend sitting next to me told me that it was just a junior high track runner.

"By the way, you want your Kingdom Hearts games back?" he asked me. I looked at him as my mind did a mental double take. I hadn't played any Kingdom Hearts game since I beat the second one and that was around two years ago. I had failed to play Chain of Memories and I was still saving up to buy a DS and 358/2 Days. I sat there in thought for a moment as I faded out my teacher's lecture on Macbeth.

'Those games were pretty awesome, and shooting people over and over again in Call of Duty is getting a tad tedious. Nazi Zombies was still pretty damn fun though…'

"Yeah sure, drop them in my mailbox after school?"

"You boys wish to weigh in on Macbeth's current condition?"

We both looked to see our English teacher, a well-built bald white male with a cleft chin, whose surprisingly vast knowledge of literature complimented his quite large frame. He was wearing a red collared shirt tucked into his khaki pants held by a black leather belt with a black velvet tie with, of course, black dress shoes. He was holding a copy of Macbeth in one hand, staring us down and clicking randomly with his computer mouse.

There was an awkward lull. The chirping of crickets was replaced by mouse clicks. One pair of male eyes and a dozen pairs of female eyes were on me and my friend. Our luck to have been the two brave men who ventured into an advanced placement English course outnumbered six to one by women. And we sat in the center of the room too. I decided to take chance, having read a bit of the section we were on.

"Well I think it's simple to say that the man is going mad for all intents and-"

**DING DING**

My friend and male cohort was named Hector. He offered me a high five on our way out the door. I gladly took it. I was reeling from the relief of finally being free for another weekend.

"Saved by the bell once again" I laughed. Hector simply shook his head in disbelief as we walked to our lockers. His purposely sagged light blue jeans and fitting white muscle polo with white sneakers contrasted with my belt held pants, shoes and small yet loose shirt.

"You and your clutch luck" he pointed out while scratching his buzz-cut hair. "I didn't think we were gonna make it out of that one alive"

"Yeah yeah" I replied. "Let's just make sure we actually read so we have a clue next time"

We both stopped walking and looked at each other for a moment. Then we started mock laughing to the point of really laughing to the point of needing to catch our breath. We both knew neither of us wasn't even going to look at what needed to be done till Sunday night, or in some cases Monday morning homeroom.

"I got track right now so I'll drop off your games after practice, cool?"

I gave him the approving nod and we both headed to our respective lockers. I grabbed my book-bag and walked out the school doors. Since today was Friday that meant my mom was out on errands while my dad was at work. Simply put, I was walking home. I started my trek uphill as I slipped my earbuds into their respective ears and hit 'shuffle' on my Apple relic of a first generation iPod nano.

'Gah, curse you school for being situated at the bottom of the hill'

I made my way over the hill and onto the sidewalk lining the main road. I kept crossing streets and making turns, the directions I knew well guiding me. I was walking down another hill since my house was also at the bottom of a hill. I trudged along

_Francis!  
_

A female voice. A too familiar female voice. I stopped walking and turned around.

Nobody.

I felt the familiar small frown and sadness come back. Ninety nine percent of me knew it was impossible for her to be here but the remaining one percent still wanted her to.

'Stupid brain, playing tricks on me…'

My attention waned long enough that I realized the music in my ears had stopped. I pulled the small rectangle out of my pocket to see what had happened. The headphone jack had come out which prompted the player to stop playing. I looked at the title of the song it stopped. It hadn't even started yet. It was her song. I hit skip.

Roughly ten songs of an average length of three minutes later I finally made it home. I smiled at the red brick goodness that was my home and I walked up the front steps. I noticed that the mailbox cover was raised up.

'Props to punctual mailmen for being good at their job'

Opening the mailbox I found no letters, nor any paper. Instead there were two familiar plastic rectangles housing PS2 games. I pulled them out and confirmed my thoughts. My copies of Kingdom Hearts one and two were back in my hands. My attention shifted to a third object in the mailbox that was being covered by the two larger ones. It was a manila colored square envelope. There was a sticky note attached to the front written on in a very neat yet childish handwriting. My inner office geek yelled 'Comic Sans'.

_'Terribly sorry for this but say your last goodbyes soon! The disc is your ticket!'_

I stood dumbfounded at the front of my door. I knew track practice lasted longer than the half-hour it took for me to walk home. But this handwriting wasn't Hector's. His writing had its own Rosetta stone I used to decipher his notes. I shook my head. It had to be nothing. But then again they all had to have reached my mailbox in some way.

"What's this so called disc?" I muttered to myself. I looked to the flap covering the opening. I stared at it questioningly for a moment as I held the two games in one hand and the envelope in the other. I shrugged my shoulders. I opened the flap and reached inside. I pulled out an average looking disc. It was colored white on top and had all the attributes of a normal disc. I felt relieved at not finding a bomb or something stupid but I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. Semi-cryptic notes usual mean either dangerous things or cool things were coming but I shrugged my shoulders at the plainness of everything. No blood, no foul. Taking my house key out of my pocket I unlocked the door and headed inside carrying the contents of the mailbox with me.

"I'm hooooooome!" I shouted. A silence answered me back. Slipping off my shoes and putting them aside I walked from the tile area around the door to the maroon rug carpeting that lined the house floor. I put down my book bag and the games on the dark brown coffee table with the white disc in the envelope on top. My stomach began to cry for food. I looked down at my complaining friend and patted it. "Yeah I think its time to eat too" I casually walked into the kitchen with its wooden floor, stone countertop and various appliances in sleek silver metal jackets. I scavenged around for food. There was no note on the fridge so everything seemed to be typically normal. Opening the freezer I found the bag of frozen hot wings and I instantly grinned.

'Epic wings of fire coming right up!'

Just before I about to rip the top off the bag I felt a pulsating vibration in my left pocket. I put down the wings to dig inside for my phone. The caller ID gave only 'Private Caller' and I groaned in protest at the familiar situation.

'Please don't tell me you're another person who's looking for a Doctor whatever the hell…'

I ignored my want to hit 'reject' and answered the call out of politeness. "Hello?"

"You should've said your goodbyes like the note said" The voice was dull and monotonous. My brow furrowed at its sullen words.

"Hold it there have you been following me? I've only been home for two minutes-"

"More than enough time"

The logic of his words flew over my head as I still hoped not to be interrupted again.

"Did you put that disc inside my mailbox with my games?"

"That does not matter. You have your key"

"The white disc? What kind of key is-"

"Goodbye"

Silently the call ended. The caller's last words had more venom in it. Now I was purely freaked out by all of this. I heaved a heavy sigh to recollect my mind. My stomach again complained and I looked down. It had to be nothing. Right now I was only fifteen minutes away from hot wing heaven and I aimed to reach it.

**SCREEEEECH**

The sound of a car braking hard interrupted my hunger again. Naturally like all human beings who hear any trace of a noise I headed to the front window to take a look. I fiddled with the thick draped azure curtains to catch a glimpse.

'Probably just somebody who went a bit too fast on the local roads. Can't be-'

My thoughts were cut off by the scene before me. There was a grey sedan parked over the sidewalk and a quarter of a way into our front lawn. There were what looked to be scratch marks lining the entire body. Windows were white with scratch patterns in all directions. The front left wheel had been popped and the driver's door was open. On the floor was a man sprawled on his stomach. My mouth went dry as it hung open in horror of the strange scene.

'How in the world could…oh forget about how! Is he okay?'

I shot for the door and threw it open. I skipped the stairs and jumped down to run to where he was. Once I got there my body froze. Something had to be done but what could be done? I was only in my school's first aid course for a week and all we had learned was how to identify emergencies, as if we were blind to know it's bad if somebody was bleeding profusely from the head. My heart rate had picked up fast and I felt my hands sweating. Kneeling down I gently tried to turn the man over onto his back. I desperately hoped I wasn't going to kill this man by trying to help him. I started to feel a warm liquid on his arm. He was bleeding. Halfway through turning him I got a look at his face and my heart dropped as my gag reflex shot up. I quickly shut my mouth and held my breath to avoid throwing up. Closing my eyes, I settled him on his back as gently as I could before slowly opening my eyes.

He has cuts, lots of cuts. Cuts were strewn over his face, too many to count. There was a particularly deep cut running from his left cheek and across his eye. It seemed as if he didn't lose either of his eyes as there was no bleeding from his sockets. The cuts were bleeding though. His grey shirt and black zip-up sweater were shredded too. Cuts were there too on his arms and torso. His black jeans weren't too bad. The holes already there looked to be more of a style mark than a battle scar. He kept his shoes luckily too but they didn't seem to help him much here. I could see him breathing heavily.

"Sir…" I tried to speak loudly in case he was too out of it to hear me. "Can you speak to me?"

The only response I got was a cough that shot blood from his mouth. I suddenly became very cold and felt sick at the sight.

'Oh crap, what do I do, what do I do, what do I do…oh damn it of course!'

The very first day of first aid came flooding back to me. The question: What's the best thing to do when encountered with an emergency on the spot?

Answer: Dial 911. Jeez.

I reached into my pocket for my phone and immediately started to dial 911. Only problem was that the screen wasn't responding. My phone only stared at me with my wallpaper of my friend balancing four legged stools atop one another at a social gathering. I opted to remove the battery to shut if off the hard way but after opening the cover and taking the battery out, I was still greeted to my friend's goofy smile and those stools stacked on one leg each.

'You've got to be kidding me'

The man gave a painful groan. I dropped my useless phone on the ground and hovered over the man's body. "Sir, please sir can you say something? Anything?" His eyes kept shut and his cut mouth was gaping open trying to form words. My teeth gritted at what was happening in front of me. The man gave one final heave that pulled his chest upward. And it kept it there despite the man's limbs going limp. My hands fell to my sides as I stared at his levitating upper torso. From under him I could see trails of what almost looked like red glitter trickling down.

My eyes went wide at the sight. There was a red glow coming from the man's chest. Slowly a shape floated out. It looked crystal-like, colored red and was gently floating upwards. It gave a bright reddish glow from its center as the red glitter kept falling down in a thin fashion. It was in the shape of a heart. It kept floating for a brief moment before too familiar black vortex of its size swallowed it whole. The man's chest fell back down with a dull impact on the grass. His wounded body started to grow transparent before finally fading away into nothing.

I remained on my knees. There were small pools of drying blood that darkened the grass a crude black. A man had just died in front of me. He died. And his heart was taken away. But what took it away? My mind flashed to almost dormant memories of my first play-through of Kingdom Hearts years ago, walking into the Second District of Traverse Town for the first time. That's when I saw the unlucky 3D model of a man simply fade away while his heart was taken by the darkness. I had just witnessed a man lose his heart to the darkness in real life.

'No…this isn't happening, it can't be happening! It was all just a game…a freaking 'T' rated game…'

It didn't change the fact that it all did happen. The scene in front of me was proof enough.

My breath was gone. I felt weak, my limbs had no feeling. My own heart was heavy as my right hand clutched the place it was supposed to be.

"That was…nothing like they made it seem in the game…"

* * *

I realize that a rim shot sound is more of a 'flam' than a 'boom' but oh well, 'boom' translates better. Review por favor? I'm just coming back so I could be a bit rusty with everything. Let me know what you think though, all words are greatly appreciated.


	2. Chapter 2

An update that didn't take more than a year? I call that progress! Okay I'm done patting myself on the back in public, enjoy!

* * *

The air around me seemed to have become stagnant. I was still on the ground with my arms limp at my side; my mind was attempting to process everything that just happened before me: an injured man just lost his heart to the darkness right in front of me. But the sun still shone somehow and the sky stayed relatively clear. Not exactly matching with first signs of an impending apocalypse.

But my mind suddenly shifted in a snap.

'Mom, dad!'

My body tensed as I shot up and ran back into the house. I stepped onto my cell phone on the way with a sharp crunch but I didn't care since the hunk of plastic just crapped out on me so it wasn't needed. Bursting into the living room I tried to remember where I had left the house phone. I ran up the stairs with the idea of going into my room in my head but somehow I had ended up running into the bathroom. I stared blankly into the tile floor before promptly slapping myself on the forehead. Turning around I made my way back down the stairs shaking my head.

"Great time for my mind and body to be out of sync again…" I complained angrily. Shaking the thought of my oddity aside in my head, I scavenged the ground floor. It ended up being on the couch in the living room next to the television remote. I picked up the phone and started to dial my dad's cell phone number. There was a silence on the phone line, no sign that the call went through. I tried once more and his office before trying my mom's phone. Nothing. After ended the call to my mom I heard the dial tone disappear completely.

'Just great, land lines are out too'

My eyes settled on the remote control, mind wondering if there were any breaking news reports. Quickly picking it up and changing the channel to the news, I saw that everything was…completely normal. There were no reports of mass chaos breaking out, no videos of a lumbering Darkside climbing a skyscraper or people in a panic over the darkness like I expected. Everything was just right as rain.

'This is unbelievable. Am I hallucinating? I have to be right now…'

I walked over to the window to see if the scratched up car was still halfway into the front lawn with the pool of blood drying on the grass. I was hoping they had disappeared from my mind. They hadn't.

"What is going on?" I screamed while gripping my hair in a desperate nature. I couldn't accept that I just saw a man die and lose his heart while the world kept happily turning. Was this only the first attack? My weakened former sense of logic told me that I hadn't even seen a single heartless with the man from before. Nothing was making sense and my head was starting to hurt. I feebly let the house phone drop from my hand onto the coffee table between the television and the couch. The impact it made though didn't sound like it hit the hard wood top though. It actually didn't make a sound at all. I looked at the table and found the white disc from before. Next to it was Kingdom Hearts one and two and my Playstation 3, somehow hooked up to the television.

'But my Playstation is in my room…?'

A beeping noise sounded that usually only went off when the system turned on. I looked at my Playstation to see that it actually was on, green and blue lights active. I felt my right hand suddenly gain a small amount of weight and I looked down to find my activated controller in my hands. Looking up at the screen I saw that the input channel had somehow changed and the console's video feed was coming through. A seemingly harmless system-start finished and was waiting for me to pick my user name. The words from the letter that came with the disc ran through my head.

'…the disc is your ticket'

Staring at the white disc made my stomach lurch. Forgetting the fact alone that my console magically made its way downstairs and set itself up to the television, was I really about to take the very strong message somebody was attempting to get through to me? I didn't even know where my parents were, or my friends. I had no idea if anybody else I knew met the same fate as the man outside. Cell phones and land lines were out around the whole world as far as I knew, or maybe it was just me being singled out. That and I had no car to attempt driving away somewhere else. I stood there mentally debating what actions I could take. My hand reached out for the disk in consideration but my other thoughts jerked it back. There had to be one other thing I could do. There had to be.

'C'mon think damn it!'

A good dozen ridiculous mental scenarios played out in my head. Some involved planes, others boats or potentially turning myself in to an asylum. Some were logical and some had me taking a nap and hoping I wake up from my dream. I shook my head to toss out all those ideas. If I ran there was really nowhere I could go. Explaining to my friends that I'm potentially insane is harder when you're serious about it all.

'I guess I have no choice'

I reached out to pick up the disk and let it slide into the disc slot. I sat down on the couch and hit the "X" button, looking for the disc to appear on the cross-bar menu. After a few seconds the disc came up under the games tab. It had a title but it wasn't any kind of letters or words. Instead it was a classic Mickey Mouse head silhouette. I laughed a little inside at that before taking a deep breath and selected the disk as the menu faded out normally. I was breathing in short quick breaths in nervous anticipation as I sat with my body leaning forward. Nothing happened. The black screen proudly shone as did the blue/green lights on the console to show me that it was still working but nothing was appearing on the screen.

'First they get my heart racing and…wait when did our cushions get so squishy?'

I blinked twice before I realized I wasn't sitting down on my couch. I looked up to see nothing but black and my lower body. My heart started to race as I realized that I was falling head first backwards! My arms and legs started to flail in an attempt to reposition myself but that only resulted in me actually turning sideways. I finally was able to face forward, or down in this case and that took a good minute with constant screaming throughout. My eyes started to hurt from the speed I was falling.

**Just relax, don't be afraid**

'Familiar disembodied voice?'

**Please relax**

For some reason I could feel that there was warmness to those words. I couldn't even hear a voice but I could somehow see the words in my head. It was strange but not only that, it was actually relaxing me. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, feeling the air fly past my body as I kept falling. The air started to calm down around me, like I was slowing down. A force tugged at my back and set me up-right. My feet touched solid ground and I opened my eyes. A large circle of white and blue stained glass was beneath me. It was plain in the sense that there were no special pictures on it but it still gave off an impressive shine.

**So much to do, so little time**

I mouthed the line along with her word for word but something was wrong with that first part.

'Wait, what-since when were you a girl?'

The voice…giggled at me as if to respond to my thoughts. My eyes started to dart in all directions, looking for any other possible source.

"What is this? You never had any gender implied before, not even a voice until five seconds ago!" I spoke out openly to the air. There was no initial reply. "Did you just abandon me?" I asked as a half joke and serious concern. She gave a small laugh.

**No not at all, please forgive me. I just wanted to take a good look at you**

A small chill ran up my spine with that. "Come again?"

A low rumbling started to sound and a grey stone pillar rose at the edge of the circle to my right. In sync with it two more appeared as well. Nothing appeared on their displays though, no dream weapons at all. I gave a questioning look to the darkness above me. What was this?

**Power does sleep within you, but you've yet to give it form**

I stayed silent. Her tone was soft but there was a tinge of worry. I had no idea what that meant or what she was getting at, or why the mood did a complete 180. The rumbling came back as the pillars started to slowly sink back into the floor. I tilted my head to the left in confusion as to what the point of them appearing was in the first place.

**You have fear in your heart**

'What?'

There was the sound of shattering glass that started to overlap itself. The floor was starting to break apart! Naturally I attempted to run somewhere but since there was no floor in less than ten seconds I did the only natural thing humans did when there's nothing beneath them. Back to free falling.

"Ahhhhhhhhh!"

My screams stopped when I saw the next area come into view. The stained glass was red, black and white this time. On the way down I could make out what looked like a keyblade of some sort on the glass but its image was blacked out completely. I landed on top of where the blade was supposed to be. I looked around while straining my ears for the voice. She was the only person, or voice-thing I could depend on right now.

"Hello?"

**You fear that you'll be forgotten entirely**

That tugged a string on my heart as I took a step back at her words. Wasn't I supposed to be answering her questions?

"Wait a second, this isn't how-"

**Is that why you fight?**

I heard a noise that sounded like a rush of wind and I looked down to see a black-purple spot on the ground a yard away from me. Two more appeared and they rose from the ground taking shape. Basic shadows.

'These guys were simple in the game but jeez they're kinda bigger up close than I imagined'

They were pretty well sized for shadows. The games made them look puny and annoying but to see them this close was something else. They were at least two feet tall from what I could tell, maybe a bit taller if they weren't hunched over. They twitched here and there with their bright yellow eyes glued on me. I had no way to defend myself, how was this supposed to work out?

"Hey, uhm can I get some help here please?" I asked the disembodied female voice. No answer. I kept listening for an answer. Suddenly I heard a sharp clicking noise and in the corner of my eye I saw a shadow leap at me. Survival instinct made my body dive away but it was too late to avoid contact. It scratched my right forearm as I tumbled away a short distance feeling the quick burning pain sink in. I felt a warm liquid start to flow from where I got hit. My eyes grew wide as I did a panic-induced double take to register that I was slightly bleeding from the arm. The flow was at a non-lethal rate but still.

'Not good, not good at all. Nobody ever bled in the game from being attacked by these guys! Oh you're kidding now'

To my dismay more shadows had appeared. Now there were roughly seven including the original three. I clamped my left hand around the wound to apply whatever pressure I could manage. My heart started to race in panic, my memory flashing back to the image of the man on my front lawn, scratched up beyond words. I could feel a single sweat bead run down my face.

**I see why you fight. You carry a weight in your heart**

I looked up at the voice. Was she just going to stand and watch or float someplace far away as I was outnumbered?

"Now isn't really the best time to try to bond with me if you could try to understand me, please?" I pleaded. I prayed that I would get an answer now as opposed to after my maiming.

**Now fight with what's in your heart!**

I couldn't completely tell what happened next. All I could make out was a blur of images flying past me in my mind as I could feel my heartbeat slow down. I saw my memories: the good, bad and everything in between. There was a blinding flash of light in my left hand. When I regained my vision my hand wasn't holding my arm but gripping a handle and my eyes saw black and white checkers. I was about to gaze upon what I was holding before I saw two shadows take a leap towards me. My eyes widened as my "avoid-death" reflex kicked in. I got on one knee and swung upward to slash at them with whatever I was holding with my eyes closed. Opening up one eye I saw two clouds of black-purple smoke evaporating. That didn't stop the remaining five heartless from jumping together at me. Both hands gripped the handle low to my left as I stepped to the same side and wildly hacked away left and right, desperately trying to mount an offensive. With a fifth awkward spin attack that almost threw me off balance, I saw the last smoke fade. My breathing was deep, sweat was on my brow and my hands were slightly shaking. I looked down to look at what I was holding and my breathing slowed.

'Keyblade…'

My left hand was wrapped around the same black and white checkerboard pattern of a handle. The hand guard was black with two horizontal thorns sticking on the left and right. The hilt had what I recognized as the Nobody emblem which stemmed from the handle as three thorny spikes sticking out on the side with the blunt edge and two spikes on the sharp edge. It looked more of a sword than a keyblade since it actually had a blade. The end of the blade was made of two parts. The usual key teeth were a fan of four alternating black-white thorns same as the hilt. The other side was a hollowed out, sharp looking quarter-oval that gave the blade a hook similar to those on end of fishing hooks. The blade gleamed in the light. It almost made me forget that there wasn't any warm red liquid dripping from my right forearm anymore. I slowly patted the spot where the wound was and felt solid, not bleeding skin.

"Thanks for the help…?" I said while taking two slow steps forward.

'Great, where'd she disappear off to this time? Actually that makes no sense since she's already kinda not tangible to begin with besides her voice'

I heard her give a chuckle.

**You're welcome. I'm happy to see that you can somewhat fight to defend yourself**

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" I shot back.

**Well it wasn't completely ineffective technique. But the spin move was really sloppy though**

"…"

**Oh don't be discouraged! Uhm…I mean, your swings could be tighter but you're fine!**

I shook my head in disbelief. I couldn't understand and accept it all. All in one day I had witnessed a heart being captured, got teleported to who-knows-where all this was taking place, almost got skinned alive by heartless, killed said heartless with a Nobody adorned keyblade, I didn't even know if Earth was still spinning or it blew up and now I was being semi-comforted and being constructively criticized by a disembodied female voice.

"Heh, you know you're lucky you sound really cute when you talk like that" I thought out loud. Wait, what?

'I didn't just do that. Crap I really did'

Next thing I knew she was laughing. I heard her try to stifle it but each time it came back louder each time. I felt my face grow hot from how ridiculous I must've looked right now for letting that slip.

'Damn me. Come to think of it...she doesn't sound that old when she's not being polite and serious'

Quickly her laughter subsided to her catching her breath, wherever that was located.

**Oh…I'm so sorry. I haven't laughed like that in such a long time**

I couldn't help but smile, me being who I am. "I'm glad to have helped"

**I'm flattered though, at least I think I am**

"Great so you can't decide if you think I'm stupid or just silly?" I replied with a sarcastic edge.

**Hehe, something like that**

'This is like a surreal web chat of some kind…'

**Time to go now**

My right leg sunk into the ground. I saw a black and purple swirl of a vortex under me. My keyblade disappeared in a flash from my hand as my left leg sank deeper. I was quickly being swallowed up by this thing. My legs couldn't move so I thrashed my arms around to try to grip into something but before I knew it, all I saw was black.

'But wait, what is this?'

**You're leaving now, that's all**

'What do you mean leaving! I still have questions, you owe me answers! This doesn't make any sense from the keyblade to-'

**In time you'll find those answers. But first you need to find some certain things on your own**

I felt myself land with a thud on what felt like a rug floor. My chest was in pain from the landing, as were my legs, arms, neck, head and back. I groaned in pain as I rolled over to sit up. I didn't even attempt to open my eyes due to the soreness. While trying to stretch my neck I opened my eyes and saw the blurry outline of what looked like a normal bedroom for one person. I rubbed my eyes to clear my vision but before I knew it, I heard the sound of a door opening and somebody whistling that song from Snow White that involved whistling.

"And I can't wait to eat my pancakes in the peace and comfort of my-"

My vision cleared just in time to see a guy in a long black coat with a blonde mullet and teal eyes in the doorway holding a stack of pancakes with butter and syrup. We stared at one another for a good five seconds before the gears in my head clicked.

"Demyx?"

In a flash he turned around and was gone, leaving me dazed and confused on the floor. I could hear him screaming at the top of his lungs though.

"WE'VE BEEN INVADED BY SOME RANDOM GUY AND HE KNOWS MY NAME AND WANTS MY PANCAKES SOMEBODY COME HELP ME AND PUT THE CASTLE ON HIGH ALERT AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Damn it"

* * *

And end chapter! Now please review if I may ask. I'm starting to feel some life in these old hands but I'm still shaking off the rust from my fingers. It helps encourage me~


	3. Chapter 3

Just for the record, Birth by Sleep is awesome for just being so damn good with linking the past to the present. I want to personally shake the hands of every member of the story-writing board or group or whatever they're called. Props to them, lots of props.

* * *

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH HEEEEEEEEELP MEEEEEEEEEE!"

Demyx's loud cry for help started to fade after a couple of seconds. I shook my head to snap my mind back into focus over what had just happened. Looking around my previous guess was right, I found myself alone on the floor of a one-person bedroom. There was a single bed, nightstand, lamp, study desk, chair, bookshelf and what I recognized as a couple of music stands with sheet music scattered on the floor. Everything was in the shade of white or grey, not very colorful. I pulled myself off the grey rug and stood up.

"Just where am I?" I spoke to myself. I occasionally thought out loud. "And why did I just see Demyx with pancakes?"

My mental scratching was interrupted as I heard the door creak open slowly. My head turned and I saw a thin pointed white cone stretch into the doorway. Three more cones followed, opening the door wider with a hissing sound behind the door. Before I knew it, 4 lesser Nobodies had elegantly and quickly made their way into the room and had surrounded me on all sides. A couple of more old gears turned in my head to help me realize who or rather what had just surrounded me.

'Dusks?"

They all stood in place, slightly bouncing up and down with their zippered mouths and lithe limbs. These guys were tall, taller than the shadows at least. Their height was closest to my younger sisters who were just above five feet. My sense of scale for these video game enemies was again being challenged for the worse. My body tensed. Recent memories of battling Heartless in a less than elegant fashion made me nervous. If shadows were a challenge for me to handle, then how was I supposed to walk away from these things?

Something made me extend my left arm forward and with a flash of light the keyblade from before reappeared in my hands. I guessed my 'stay-alive' instinct made me move and I quietly thanked it for arming me. I gripped the handle tight with both hands and instinctively held it upright, pointing slightly forward. Back on Earth during mock-battles years ago I wanted to be the awesome looking kid who held his sword differently but growing up (or lack thereof since my friends and I still played with lightsabers for fun) I ditched the flair for practicality. These Dusks weren't my fellow padawans though, so a hit wouldn't be so easy to walk away from. I waited for them to make the first move, gulping down air and saliva in nervous anticipation. But oddly enough nobody moved, no pun intended. An eerie quiet dominated the room, not counting the various noises the Dusks were making. Were they communicating? Waiting? I found myself staring at the Dusk right in front of me. It swayed left to right slowly. It was almost hypnotic.

"**I see no intruder"**

My eyes went wide and I took a step back. It was almost the same thing as with the female disembodied voice, before I could actually hear her. I couldn't hear the Dusk speak but I could understand what it was saying, the words appearing in my head somehow. I took another step back, looking over my shoulder as to check if the one behind me was any closer.

"**Stupid Demyx and his false alarms"**

"**Useless"**

"**He always eats all the fruit snacks too"**

"**And he always leaves only the grape flavored ones! I hate grape!"**

They all started to twitch erratically with their zippered mouths opening before jumping into the air and wriggling out the open doorway. I stared blankly at their exit. That had left me all alone to once again to process exactly what just happened. My right eye gave a bit of a twitch but I shook my head to snap myself back to the moment. I gave a sigh of relief. I supposed not being attacked is always a positive aspect of any situation.

"Jeez…what the hell is going on here? My head hurts from all this" I muttered. I brought my keyblade closer to my eyes so I could get a better look at it. The Nobody themed weapon puzzled me. I really had no idea as to why I had it, other than the disembodied female voice somehow gave it to me. I mean it looked nice and having a weapon was good in all this madness but I still had questions. In an instant the keyblade disappeared from my hand in a quick flash of light. I didn't mean to put it away just yet but then again I didn't exactly know how I would've done that so I shrugged my shoulders and accepted it.

My main concern at the moment was figuring out where exactly I ended up from that not-so smooth trip. Putting two and two together from the run in with Demyx, I guessed I was in his room. I started to scavenge his room for clues as to where I was. I couldn't find anything amid his scattered sheet music. The desk was clean and his book collection consisted of what seemed to be music theory and oddly enough, various baking cookbooks. My eyes wandered over to the bed and I saw a pair of large drapes hanging beside it covering what I guessed to be a matching big window. I pulled the drapes apart and I was met with a black and azure colored night sky with…a giant heart shaped moon glowing in the distance. My jaw slightly unhinged and dropped open at the ominous moon floating out in space. Looking down I saw a white void that seemed to have no ending in a deep crater. In the sides of the window I could make out the dark outlines of buildings in the distance while white and grey towers were situated closer to me. More gears turned.

"The Castle That Never Was" I whispered, in a soft breath that left me speechless. Two and two had again smashed together to help me realize that I was just dropped in the stronghold of Organization XIII. That disembodied female voice just gained another question to her name.

"Well well, what's this? I never expected Demyx to actually have been right for once"

My eyes darted to the doorway. In its frame stood a man dressed in a familiar black coat with the hood down. The eye patch over his right eye and scar under his left eye stretching across his left cheek kicked my mind into high gear.

"Xigbar!" I gasped. The Freeshooter raised an eyebrow while giving a chuckle.

"Whoa, the intruder knows my name? Props to you for doing your homework but I'm late for my daily target practice so let's make this quick"

With a flick of his wrists his weapons appeared with a purple flash, his arrowguns automatically loading their ammunition. I saw a smile slowly creep across his face.

"Or" he paused. "Maybe you could substitute for my poor Snipers today. Those guys don't take too kindly to headshots so I wonder how you'll do" Another flick of the wrist and I instantly felt a sharp pain pierce my right arm, the force slamming my body against the window. I screamed in pain as I gripped the burning spot on my arm, a too familiar warm liquid dripping from my elbow. I could barely open my eyes as I saw Xigbar eye his weapons curiously.

"Hey that's not right. I wanted a headshot right off the bat. Am I off today?" he questioned himself. Giving a sigh he gave his weapons a twirl in his fingers before redirecting them towards me. "Alright that first one was a giveaway my man. I know you won't be feeling anything after this one"

Time seemed to slow down for me. I heard him pull the triggers this time and I could see the two light red projectiles rushing towards me. I willed my body to dive out of the way to attempt to dodge but in the first second of him firing my body wouldn't budge. Two more seconds and my body still didn't want to cooperate. The arrows were halfway from their mark and I kept screaming at my body mentally to move but nothing in me responded. Fear sank deeply into me heart as it was facing its death.

'Why in the hell can't I move? I'm about to be shot to death here!'

They were a yard away from my face when I felt my left hand open and relax. I felt it being slowly being guided away from my arm and outward towards the incoming arrows. It was as if I had strings tied to me and somebody or something was literally pulling my body to move. There was barely half a yard of space between me and the arrows with only my hand in-between the two. Slowly but surely time began to pick up the pace to its normal standard for me. There was a warm rushing feeling that flowed from my heart to my hand. The same flash of light began to radiate from my palm and suddenly time was flowing normally again. The sound of metal hitting metal sounded twice, followed by the sound of a Nobody groaning in pain and a window breaking. A cool breeze blew into my neck that made my body shiver a little. My mind slowly started to cooperate with my eyes as I saw Xigbar kneeling down clutching his left leg, his head down facing the ground.

"I see you're pretty fancy kid" he said through gritted teeth. "You do your homework and you don't go down so quickly. Got any other surprises up your sleeve?"

I flew over a potential pop-culture reference in my head that related to what he said but I quickly dismissed the thought as the soreness of my wound came back into my nerves. Gritting my teeth to bear the pain wasn't doing much for me I painfully accepted. My hand gripped around my keyblade handle that once again appeared out of the blue to save my skin. I was starting to become fond of its knack for appearing when I really needed it.

'Though I wish I could've gone without being shot'

**I think its best that you jump now**

I was startled when a worried, soft sounding female voice rang through my head. It wasn't the same voice from before, no this one was younger. Not too younger though, I was sure there wasn't a preteen in my head but at least a teen of some good age.

'Wait a minute, you're not the same voice from before? Who are-'

**I don't think questions are the best way to save ourselves right now. He isn't going to let a bullet wound to the leg keep him down forever**

My attention focused back on Xigbar. His breathing didn't sound labored by any means and he was beginning to pull himself back up. I looked out to the window and saw the fairly high two-story drop to the next available spot of solid ground. I gulped in nervousness, me always having a nagging fear of heights, before looking back at the Freeshooter and his weapons in hand. A couple of bruises versus multiple bullet wounds in various places? My choice was clear but I looked out the window feeling apprehensive. In the back of my mind I knew in theory all I had to do was bend my knees or roll forward upon landing to avoid shattering bones but that was all in my head. I was starting to feel sick.

**Just remember to go feet first and I'll handle the rest**

She answered my worried feelings directly. The cold night air continued to occasionally roll into the open window, sending a chill through me. I took a deep breath. I did have a better chance of surviving the fall than facing Xigbar myself.

'How'll you handle the rest exactly?'

**Just trust me, please**

There was a small pause before she spoke. I could hear confident determination in her tone, even though she was speaking quietly. I nodded my head.

"Okay, no more messing around. This time I'm not missing my mark!"

I turned around to see Xigbar standing. With a quick move he seemed to mash one gunarrow into the other one and held them together like a rifle, aiming down the sights. Quickly I gripped the bottom part of the window that had no broken glass left and swung my legs out. The rest of my body followed and I felt the cool air surround me as a small 'click' was heard behind me. The ground was rapidly approaching and my heart started to race. My keyblade disappeared as I heard a small laugh in my head.

**You shouldn't worry so much**

The familiarity of her words combined with her humorous tone that sent a wave of warmth through me. The next moment seemed to flow seamlessly, like clockwork. I felt the my feet hit the ground but my body hunched over to ball itself up, leaning forward and rolling twice before I stood straight up effortlessly. My mind was blank in wondering how I pulled that off without a hitch. Also I was surprised to find that a soft smile had made its way onto my face. The happiness was cut short when my mind snapped back to the wound in my arm. It continued to shamelessly and painfully make itself known to me. I'd never been shot before but this wasn't making the experience any more pleasant that I thought it would have been. My head started to feel light and my body swayed a little before I shook myself back to normal. It was still bleeding, drops dripping from my elbow.

'I don't suppose you can help me clean this up?'

**There is one way. I think you'll be familiar with it**

'Please, I'm all ears'

**Say 'Cure!'**

I rapidly blinked twice at those words in disbelief. "Say again?" I slowly asked. The swaying had come back and the blood loss was starting to show its toll.

**I'm serious! Hurry we're not safe yet!**

I straightened myself back up as best I could, almost tripping in the process. There was a giggle in my head but I ignored it. I placed my hand back on the wound and took a deep breath in.

"Cure"

Another warm rush started to flow from my heart through the arm I was using to heal. I could see it glow slightly yellow-green. There were also a few green leaves that had somehow appeared and were falling down on me. Two seconds later and the pain subsided to a minor soreness. Once the glow faded I removed my hand to see that the bleeding had stopped, the skin looking unscathed. I gave a sigh of relief and thankfulness.

'Thanks for that, I really owe you one'

**You're welcome. It's the least I can do for both of u-Dive!**

I didn't catch her last words but my body ended up flinging itself forward down the walkway. I heard three metallic objects hit the floor followed by small explosions. Sitting up I saw Xigbar with his faux rifle in hand, his feet planted sideways on the far wall.

"As if I'm going to just let you waltz right on out of here!" he shouted while reloading his weapon. "Deflecting my own attack, not very cool of you man. Time to pay you back in full!"

I scrambled to my feet and ran down the ramp, trying to run in zig-zags to make myself a difficult target. The idea of confusing the Freeshooter would've not had much of a chance for others but if Sora, or at least my controller could make him do it when I should be able too.

**Just keep running, I'll tell you where to go**

I was about to mentally and vocally shout out my concern about how she would know her way. At this point however, the fact that she somehow helped me avoid bleeding out and breaking bones had me silence myself. She seemed to understand my silence as consent as the arrows kept raining fast behind me.

* * *

I feel that this one was a bit shorter than what I usually update with but c'est la vie. Review please!


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